1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to remote electrical monitoring and, more particularly, to an economical means for remotely monitoring (and for providing a variety of fault alarms) of illuminated signage, security lighting, ATM illumination, ATM security lighting, parking lot lighting, and general area lighting.
2. Description of the Background
There is a vast array of commercial illuminated signage, security lighting, parking lot lighting, and general lighting which casts an important reflection of the owner establishments. In most any city it is possible to drive down a main thoroughfare and observe partially malfunctioning illuminated signs that send an incomprehensible message, or worse, an unintended and disparaging message. Moreover, there is a liability issue attached to commercial security lighting. Both landlord and tenant are potentially liable for the safety of patrons in and around their buildings and their parking lots, and their liability exposure increases drastically when the lights are completely out or dimly lit. Thieves and muggers view dimly lit parking lots as an open opportunity. The latter situation is especially apparent around banks and ATM machines, which are frequented by patrons at night. Consequently, there is a great commercial demand for ways of monitoring commercial signage and lighting to reduce liability exposure and maintain lighting and illuminated sign aesthetics.
It is well known how to detect fault conditions in signage and lighting. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,286 to Pacholok shows a load fault detector for high frequency luminous tube power supplies. The device detects certain load fault conditions of neon signs connected to high voltage, high frequency power supplies including open circuit, broken tube and other balanced load fault conditions. However, the remedy for a malfunction is simply to shut the lights off, and an automatic power supply shut-down switch is suggested. This does nothing to notify the proprietor or reduce downtime.
There are a few intelligent systems that do provide notification as well as monitoring. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,565 to Levy shows an intelligent outdoor lighting control system which automatically senses, records and transmits data relevant to the operation of the lighting system so that both control and maintenance can be performed more efficiently. Again, a current sensor monitors current to the lamps at each lamp location, and a bi-directional data link is used to transmit data from each sensor to a command station, and vice versa.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,052 to Hamm et al. shows a monitoring and alerting system for buildings, and particularly for unoccupied commercial businesses and ATMS. The system includes one or more light level sensors directed to observe the light levels and a schedule. If the light level at the selected area does not reach or maintain the desired light level, corrective action is taken. If the commercial establishment is a bank and the light level is at an ATM (automatic teller machine) the system may temporarily shut the ATM machine down and illuminate a sign to indicate that the ATM is not open. The system also senses other discrepancies such as failure of heating, water leaks, etc. however, the system as well employs a modem and telephone communications link to a human monitoring station for alerting and corrective action.
Unfortunately, both of the foregoing systems are cumbersome and expensive, and they rely on placing the current sensors at the equipment locations rather than monitoring at the power source. (electrical panel).
It would be greatly advantageous to provide a more economical illuminated signage, security lighting, parking lot lighting and general lighting monitoring system that monitors commercial lighting for current load faults, and which will automatically send multiple alarms defining the site location and nature of the problem for each monitored circuit, In addition a predefined numeric indication can be sent to a pager(s) to flag signs/lights in need of repair, thereby providing a cost effective way of maintaining aesthetics as well as safety if an area becomes dimly lit or complete lighting outage occurs.